


The Windswept Soul

by Dracef



Category: Bastion (Video Game), Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Rifts (Roleplaying Game), S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: 2nd Character, Bastiontale AU, But mixed with loads of other shit, Cannon Divergent, Fandom Hell Really, Gen, I am a bad person, Kinda my own thing, Not for the light of heart, Rejection, WingedFrisk AU, narrator - Freeform, there will be gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-10-29 18:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10859376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracef/pseuds/Dracef
Summary: Look around at the world we're in.  How did it get like this?  Who did this, and why?  Well, let me tell you a story.  Story telling is a tradition passed down from generation to generation, one I uphold.  This ain't my story though.  This is the story of the kid, and their life in this crazy world we call home.  Who are they?  Well listen here and let me tell their tale.





	1. Chapter 1: Orion's Tale

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. first story I've ever written and I'm putting 5+ fandoms into this. This story is, to the best of my ability, told in second person, much like the game Bastion. Hope you like it. :)

Stories are supposed to start at the beginning, once upon a time. Not so with this one, need something a little more unique. This one’s got to start years before the beginning, then jump strait to the end. This story’s got its own way of talking, not that you haven’t heard some of it before. So, before we get to the kids story, let’s take a few steps back, hundreds of years ago, right where this story takes place, at the foot of Mt. Ebott.

Back then, humans weren’t the only people trying to scratch a living in this world. Monsters, as they called themselves, lived right next to humans, working and living like everyone else. Might have given you a shock if you had seen them, with all their shapes and sizes. Some small enough to fit into a crack in the wall, others so tall they could touch the tops of the trees. Every shape imaginable: from frogs, cats, and bugs to dragons, slimes, and skeletons. Back then, humans didn’t much mind, other than the few folks that thought monsters were evil, or made by the devil himself. It’s those folk, those few bad apples, that caused this whole mess we’re in. Those folk, that is, and one man named Orion.

Orion was a strong boy growing up, in both mind, body, and soul. He always wanted to be a Breaker, hunters who hunted both animals and, when no one else could get close, criminals with their weapon, the Breakers Bow. He trained for years, hunting everything he could until he could pin an elk to a tree from a mile away. When he tried to join up, however, they turned him down at the gate. See, a certain kind of person is needed to become a Breaker, someone who wants to uphold both the law and the balance of nature. They’d been watching him train, killing everything he could get an arrow in, and destroying areas once fertile with life. He had killed so much, and with such carelessness as to what saw it, that the prey had started to shy away from the hunting grounds. He also didn’t have the right kind of mindset for the job, all he wanted to do was kill and kill bigger and bigger game. So they turned him away, telling him he would never be good enough for the Breakers. He didn’t say a thing, just walked back home in a daze. His whole life he had been working towards this goal, this life, and just like that it was dust in the wind. When he got back home, he just sat on his bed and cried.

Later on, after that fateful day, Orion was a different man. He didn’t laugh, didn’t smile, and just went where his feet took him. The town didn’t even have a distillery yet for him to drink his troubles away. He just stewed in his negative thoughts and emotions until, one day, he seemed to just snap out of it. There aren’t any records of why this happened, just that he seemed like a new man that day. But whatever was driving him, it was no force of good. First off, the tried to join every other guild in the town, from the Trappers to the Constables. All of them for, one reason or another, refused to let him join, saying that he would never succeed in his life goal. This never bothered him, almost as if he had planned for this to happen. After all of the guilds in the area turned him down, he packed some food, water, and his old bow, and left for the capital.

This part is well documented, from his arrival at the gates with a dead bear on his shoulders to that bears delivery to the king as a gift. Orion played his cards well, working with the king day after day, slowly growing closer to him and, more importantly, his daughter. Soon, when it was time for the daughter to marry, Orion stepped forward as a suiter. The king, while wishing with all his heart to allow it, had to go with tradition, for fear of the population turning on the royal family. The Judge, a monster who could see into the hearts of men, would be tasked to judging all suiters wishing for the royal hand. Orion knew he would have no chance if this were the case, for those who had turned him away had been of the same kind as the Judge. The only way for him to be king would be if he could prevent his judging. He had thought of the perfect plan, years in the making, and executed it flawlessly. That old bow he had? It was a Breakers Bow, given to him by his father when he was young. The arrow he had spent years bribing, cheating, and stealing to gain? Made for hunting monsters, those that used their magic to get away from the law or to hurt others. At the time, the Breakers were being investigated for the killing of an innocent monster, one that just looked like their target. This put strain on the relations between monsters and humans, both kings watching the other carefully. Putting an arrow through the eye of a human skull from three blocks down is nothing to pinning an elk a mile away. That arrow found its mark, and when a pile of dust, a Breakers arrow, and the robes of the Judge were found in an alleyway, it sparked a fire that would burn the world. Orion’s new goal in life? To rid the world of the monsters that had destroyed his dream.

With no Judge, and no monster wishing to fill the role, the king had to choose whom his daughter would marry. Naturally, he chose the one person he thought he could depend on, Orion. Not much is known as to what happened between this point and the king’s death. Hostilities between monsters and humans escalated, monsters fleeing human cities to live in the forests as they once did. The monster king closed the boarders neighboring the humans, preventing them from obtaining the resources they once had in spades. Human towns within monster territory, including Ebott, were kept under constant observation, given only basic rights for fear of retaliation. This stalemate lasted until Orion was crowned king. It was then that true war started.

His first action was to pardon the Breakers, restoring the order and stating that they were only working for the benefit of the kingdom. He then gathered the head of the guilds, all of which feared he sought revenge for what they had done. When he instead called a Great Hunt, their fear turned into confusion. When a Great Hunt is called the heads of the guilds gain the power over all, a form of martial law. Only the king is above them, acting as a balance to their power. Why give them this power? In order to destroy an enemy so powerful, that no one guild could take it down. There has only been one other Great Hunt, when the dragon Bahama and his kin fought both humans and monsters for control over the Ebott area. Both sides stood as one to prevent his reign. It was in this war that the guilds were formed, and the Breakers showed their power. To call a Great Hunt against the monsters, for everyone knew that they were the enemy, would be a black mark on the king. The monsters had been the ones to suggest, and indeed help form, the guilds and Great Hunt, so to call it against them would be a declaration of betrayal, as if the monsters had been the ones in the wrong. It was then that Orion revealed a tragedy, one hidden away from the public to prevent panic. The queen was dead, burnt to ash by some form of magic not possessed by humans, whose magic was clumsy, and needed much preparation in order to be cast. The outrage within that room was so great, it was said that the monsters shuttered as one at that very moment. The monsters would not just be wiped away, no, they would be punished to such a degree that the gods themselves would shake in abject terror. It was then that the Reckoning came to fruition.  
The first act of the Hunt was to clear a path from the human’s land to Ebott mountain, which was only just inside monster territory. This proved simple, as there was only a small force of monsters to keep the town Ebott in check. Those monsters never even saw the arrows coming, dusting all of them in the space of ten seconds. The area around the mountain was then cleared, stations set up at key points in order to defend the mountain while work was done. Then the mining began. While the war raged on, the mountain was mined, huge areas hollowed out. While the resources gained from the operation were great, that was not its goal. All entrances and exits into and out of the mountain were sealed, but for one huge stone door, reinforced with steel and magic. A great ritual was being prepared, one that would make even the strongest of men weep in pity for the monsters. Once the caverns were hollowed in the mountain, an area of over four hundred square miles in total, sunless plants and animals were distributed within them. The river Aurora, named after the fallen queen, was diverted into the mountain, such that it could not be scaled back out again. This was all done in order to make the mountain as livable as possible, while being as hostile as well. The plants and animals were bitter and thin in nutrients, the water sour and gritty with silt and waste. A great pool of magma sat in the lowest chamber, providing heat and one of two sources of light in the entire mountain. Thorns and bristles, bread to not need the rays of the sun, were placed in every chamber. Ebott flowers, poisonous but beautiful, were placed in a single point made just for them. Above, a single hole, barley a foot wide, placed so that the sun could leek through into this hell. All this and more done to provide a prison for the monsters the humans fought against. All this, in revenge for not letting one man into a guild. Monsters did not kill Aurora. Her lover, her friend, her husband, killed her. Burnt alive by the fire used to create the Barrier, a magical trap made from the dust and ash of seven humans and monsters. The dust and ash, however, were special. They came from the seven mages who created the Barrier, and from the seven Judges of the guilds, all skeletons, all of which turned Orion down.

You know the rest of the story. Despite the hunting prowess and powerful magic of the monsters, fighting on their home turf, the monsters were beaten and slaughtered. Those that were left were herded to Mount Ebott, to the Great Gate of Man. Once inside, the Barrier was closed, and with it all magic was trapped underground. Orion was heralded as a hero, and a great celebration was held in his honor. Unbeknownst to the humans, magic did not simply disappear with the monsters. Forced underground in long lines stretching the planet, it built and built for years and years. Without the monster draining these ley lines, they began to push up into the world. At first, it was minor things. Changes in the weather, animals acting odd, people having weird dreams, it could be explained off. That was, until those ley lines burst. In a matter of day, walls of pure magic tore from the land, huge swaths of land cut off from one another. Animals began to mutate, first small changes like sharper teeth, then complete metamorphosis. Bats and rats morphed into the maraks, blind creatures with long pincers and wings. Deer lost all fur, growing armored hides of chitin and iron with spines, growing bladed teeth, and a thirst for blood while retaining most of their original shape. Dogs grew savage, reverting to grotesque facsimiles of wolves called pseudo dogs. Bears seamed to disappear, only to be found as huge masses of living bones and fur known as gore-mounds. Overnight the world changed into a horror of blood and death. As for Orion? Well, when the corpses of loved ones from the graveyards swarmed the capital, he was found dead. Turns out Aroura had a thing for irony. No one knew how, but she pushed him into the fireplace and locked the grate before crumbling to ash. Thus ended the tale of Orion, the mad king who caused the Reckoning.


	2. The Way of the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look around at the world we're in. How did it get like this? Who did this, and why? Well, let me tell you a story. Story telling is a tradition passed down from generation to generation, one I uphold. This ain't my story though. This is the story of the kid, and their life in this crazy world we call home. Who are they? Well listen here and let me tell their tale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> World Building time!

                Now you know how this all went down.  Without something to drain that magic, the world would have just stayed like it is, broken, mutated, diseased.  Only thing is, human magic didn’t seem to work no more.  No rituals or prayers, no talisman or charm.  Well, there was one item that’s kept its mojo.  The Great Gate of Man.  Forty tons of iron and stone set in a granite frame.  Impenetrable, even for the Trappers strongest explosive.  That gate was the only thing separating the world from what it needs most.  Only two ways of getting it open.  One, cast the simple spell to open her up.  But without any magic, that solution poses a problem.  The second is if seven souls were used to break the Dust-Ash Barrier, the magic Barrier that held the monsters in.  The problem was that only a monster could harness that kind of power, or use it at all for that matter.  So, the only way to free the monsters was if they were already free, Orion’s idea of a joke.

 So that’s it, right?  End of story, no way in or out of that mountain.  Sealed up so tight not even a worm could slip in.  Well, I wouldn’t be telling you this if that were the case, now would I?  See, the Dust-Ash Barrier had one flaw, built into is by the one of the mages who help make the blasted thing.  They empathized with the monsters, saw them not as a threat, but as people trying to survive against an insane king. The mage built in a set of rules to allow people into the Dust-Ash Barrier.  They would allow the monsters to be free once more, and take their rightful place back on the surface.  The only problem was that one other mage caught on.  One of Orion’s pets added his own clause to the Barrier.  One that would make it impossible to enter for any human.

  Anyone that meets the requirements could slip in with a little help.  The rules?  Simple.  You couldn’t be related to the king.  You couldn’t be over fifteen years old.  And you couldn’t be human.  Once again, that problem arises.  Need a monster to get in, need a monster to get out.  Here’s the thing, magic has its own rules.  They change at its whim, and no one else’s.  One is simple, a constant, and goes as follows.  That which is Changed by magic, with magic, is magic.   Find a person who’s been touched by magic, to the point of being Changed, and you’ve got your ticket to restore the world to the way it once was.  Or to blow it to smithereens. 

As I said, magic has its own rules.  The soul of a person, their very being, is subject to that one constant.  Human souls turn into the souls of monsters through constant exposure to magic.  But the magic must be focused, or the soul will just pop like an overfilled water skin.  The soul must also be able to handle large doses of magic.  Too much and the soul gives out, burning all of that magic, and its own life force, in an attempt to survive.  Monsters learned to control these burns, boosting their abilities for a short time.  However, they never taught humans that trick, so all humans could do is try and not overuse their magic.

You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this.  Just hold on and everything will be clear.  You have to learn what was at stake here.  If a Changed got ahold of the power of seven souls, its soul you try to burn out.  The problem is that the power of eight full souls creates a feedback loop, gaining more and more power as time goes on.  Monsters never needed to worry about this, their souls could just burn off that excess power.  Human-tuned-Changed souls don’t have that level of burn.  So, as more and more magic builds, it has to be used somehow.  The most logical thing to do would be to cast spell after spell to seal it up or use it up.  But every spell puts of some magic, that’s why Orion needed that ash and dust for the Barrier.  The physical components give the magic form, permanence.  The Changed wouldn’t be able to add those components in time.  That radiating magic would, eventually, start to seep back into the lay lines, straining the force holding them back.  The more magic put in, the worse mutations and anomalies would occur.  Eventually, with all of that magic pressing against that force (called the Resonance Barrier by those who study such thing, never my field) it would break in a massive, cascading crack that would spread from ley line to ley line, destroying it utterly.

  Theland would be burned, all life being erased from existence.  No one knows what would happen after that.  Some think that the magic would eventually dissipate, and life would start over from square one.  Others think that the entire planet would be pulled into the Warp, the realm of souls and dreams.  Either way, not a desirable ending for humans or monsters.   So, the people who survived made a pact, those that could be reached that is.  Once a Changed is found, raise them to be good, kind, respectful, then have them enter the Barrier save our sorry hides.  This was agreed upon, simple and easy.  But remember those folk who though monsters were evil?  Well here they are, ruining that pact, and our only chance for going back to how things were, for everyone else. 

The former guilds guard the Great Gate of Man, claiming only they have the right to it as, according to them, the Great Hunt was still going on.  Only the Changed from their sorry backwater town would be allowed to enter, and only if they passed the scrutiny of those old heads.  This would probably have been a bit of a problem, were it not for the fact that there had been no Changed.  At all.  Not even a bit of magic had passed to any human on this planet.  The birth of a Changed would spread like wildfire, unless they were kept under wraps so tight, not even the kid knew what they were.  Well, that’s exactly what happened, here in the little town of Ebott.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall know the drill, tell me if I suck or not :P


	3. The Changed Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look around at the world we're in. How did it get like this? Who did this, and why? Well, let me tell you a story. Story telling is a tradition passed down from generation to generation, one I uphold. This ain't my story though. This is the story of the kid, and their life in this crazy world we call home. Who are they? Well listen here and let me tell their tale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well who is this, and who are we?

    The kid ran down the street. Ran like the fires of hell were licking their heels. In their hand was a wad of cash, all they saved. They ran and ran, until they got to the distillery at the edge of town. Just seemed to pop up one day, no rhyme or reason. The kid didn’t care about that right now, nor did they really ever care. They just cared about one thing, the old brew master inside. The kid slams the door open, breath heaving in and out. The kid takes a moment to stare at the old man inside, like they always did. Tall, pale, and thin as a stick, the man never dressed in anything other than black and white. The coat he was wearing stretched to his ankles, the fabric thin and rough (said he used that coat to save his hide from burning alcohol, kid never knew if that was true), white shirt bright as a new day, never a spot on it, with black pants and shoes. His face, smooth but hard, turned to the kid, his eyes the same gentle hue they always were . The kid knows what’s coming next, as the man always does the same thing every time they see them.  
  I smile at the kid and say “Hello there, come to try and pay me back?”  
Kid nods, knowing I won’t take a cent from them. Still, they hold up those bills to me, staring me right in the eye. No one in town could do that for any longer than a few moments, on account of my stare. Blue eye to the left, orange rock to the right. They never could get used to it. The kid, on the other hand, never even flinched. They were still looking me in the eye, even as I poured them a malt shake from behind the counter.  
The old building served as both a distillery and as a bar. Figured I could combine two of my passions into one, plus serve the folks the freshest drinks you could get. Even as I mused on this, the kid was still looking, almost glaring, at me. They never did like me doing that, not letting them repay me for their drinks and food. Back then, they had no clue why I would ‘waste’ money like that, even in those times.  
  “Kid, you know I’m not taking it, save your strength for a fight you can win.” I chuckle at the determined expression on their face. I knew they weren’t going to back down, they never did. Still, they put down there arm and hopped up on the stool, looking around. “Bar” really isn’t the way to describe the room we were in. Looked like an old hole in the wall in, pictures and nick-knacks hung and set anywhere they would fit, gathered from times past. Seven tables, four chairs each, lay about the room in no particular order. Seven booths, four seats as well, were inset into the walls. The counter I was behind was dented and scratched from use, but still stood as solid as an oak. It stretched from wall to wall, only stopping for the half-doors used to get behind it. Behind me was the door leading to the kitchen, main distillery, and my personal room. Kid always wondered about that door, ash clashing with the redwood of the rest of the room, but I never did tell them why I had put it in. That doors’ special to me, take it wherever I go. Kid looks out the single window in the bar, sulkily sipping their drink. I knew they would get over it, so I just go back to washing up. The noise of glass shattering against the floor spins me around, my hand already reaching under the counter. The kid is looking back too, the reason for the glass showing itself like a rotting cloud on the horizon. Folks from all over town gathering into one huge mob, moving towards the distillery. Seems they got sick of both the kid and me, and decided to kill two doves with one rock.  
See, no one else wanted anything to do with the poor kid, claimed they were rotten. When they tried to teach them to hunt and kill, the kid never even tried. All they would do is run up to the animals and scare them away, preventing the hunters from killing them. They would disarm traps, ruin trails, and do all in their power to save lives. The folks in Ebott were, how shall we say, hell bent on killing anything in their way, and now that included us. They only wanted me for being nice to the kid when no one else would, like any decent person would.  
  The thing is, there was one other thing those villagers were mad about. The kid was the only changed known at the time, infused with magic from the Reckoning. While animals mutated into horrid beats, the kid kept most of their shape. The only difference? The iridescent wings on their back, shining even now, as they jump down from the stool. They were to be humanities greatest weapon against the monsters, and they ended up looking or acting like one. This mob was inevitable, just didn’t expect for it to happen now. The kid bolts for the door, but pauses at the door. They don’t know what to do, run from the mob or hide in this old wooden coffin. I grab a bottle from behind the counter, saved just for this moment. I toss it to the kid, the thick red liquid sloshing about in the bottle.  
  “Kid, listen close, take this and run. Don’t stop, don’t slow, don’t rest until you can’t hear a god dammed peep from those dogs. Find the outcasts at the last way station, near the Gate. They’ll take you in, just tell them G’s using his favor.” I look to the window, the mob mere seconds away from reaching our location. “Use the back door, I’ll stall for time.”  
  The kid looks like they’re going to argue, but that’s a bit hard when you can’t even make more noise than a hum. The bottle hits the ground, rolling until the kid grabs it as they run for the back door. They slip in and slam it shut, just as that mob reaches my door. From what the kid tells me, they didn’t hear a thing after that, though they were running for their life, so they can’t be blamed. Had they heard, though, they would have listened to those angry shouts turn to screams of fear and pain. Had they tuned back, they would have seen all those pictures and nick-knacks vanish, the equipment and personal items going with them. That grey door was an old, old thing. Built by monsters long ago. Used for packing up quickly, should an event warrant such haste. As for the screams? Well, you know what they say. Dead men tell no tales.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, lost the urge to write. Also formatting on this website is annoying -_-

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, that's all I've got. Do tell me if I should change anything. Or if I should never write again, that's cool too. :P


End file.
